That the coconut and oats hide the squidgy texture of raisins (you know how I feel about squelchy-popping-brain-like raisins), and that the unsweetened chocolate and peanut butter lend richness without cloying sweetness.

Why am I asking you to trust me on this?

Because the extent of the recipe that I have for these granola bars is the following note on my phone: “3/4 cup coconut 1 cup raisins 2/3 cup unsweetened chocolate melt this into original pb”.

“Original pb” is clearly shorthand for another recipe that, at the time, I thought I wouldn’t forget.

Well, folks, I forgot.

I do remember that there was also honey and vegan butter involved in this recipe. Rolled oats and vanilla extract, too.

And I remember that the resulting chocolate coconut peanut butter granola bars were phenomenally magnificent, and that the people I shared them with made wide-eyes at me from their first bites. But I can’t remember how I made them.

But that’s the thing about life, isn’t it? Sometimes you can’t remember everything.

Sometimes as much as you want to remember in diamond-sharp detail all the best things in life — that look on his face, or the sound of her laugh, or the way you felt when everything for a moment was as certain as the smell of fresh earth after a thunderstorm — sometimes, instead, you end up recalling with agonising clarity all the things you’d rather not — that stupid thing you said, or the time you were helpless to fix your friend’s hurt, or the suffocating panic in your throat when you had no idea which way to turn.

I had to read your comment four times because I couldn’t understand what you meant. But I think it’s that you weren’t sure whether pb was peanut butter? Or you thought I didn’t know my note meant peanut butter? Darling, it’s always peanut butter in my world. 😉 I thought it would be clear from all the times I mentioned peanut butter in the post. 😛

I will give these the thumbs up. What a funny story! I love how you lost the second half of the recipe. However, it looks like your memory or your intuitive skills served you well and your ‘creation’ is a big success xx

wise words on memory – I forget so much and wonder why I remember the wrong things – but at least my blog does lots of remembering for me – and maybe the half remembering on this post will lead you to recreate these for us down the track

There are things that hold the fabric of society together. Personal responsibility and what not. Seriously. You will recreate the recipe and post it in due time like a responsible citizen of the world.

Thank goodness I’m not the only one that does this. I have progressed to having a notebook in the kitchen so I can write down recipes, but I still have a foolish belief in my memory and think that if I abbreviate, I’ll remember later. As you know – no. It’s worse when the lost recipe is for something as good as these sound/look though!

It’s been a long time since I’ve made this mistake; I did it a lot years ago then got better about writing the recipe up straight away. Ah well. Maybe it was my brain giving me justification to make these again. 😉

Damn! I opened this, thinking “I’ve been looking for a great granola bar recipe” but alas! Ah well, I completely understand. We often diverge wildly from recipes, think it’s the best and then can never replicate.

You can barely notice them, I promise. Not only I but another avowed raisin hater loved these without even realising they were a part of it. But…. you could definitely swap them out for more chocolate/dried cherries/something more delicious 😉

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About

Hannah. Writer, editor, firm believer in socks, gin, laughter, buttered toast, cheesecake, and semicolons. Currently back in Canberra after two years living in Canada; heart tingling to see what happens next.